I support Nat’l Cathedral but single-sourcing it wrong - Obiri Boahen
National Cathedral architecture was sole-sourced to Sir Adjaye for $22m – Simons alleges
Deputy General Secretary for the ruling NPP, Nana Obiri Boahen, has stated that he finds it hard to comprehend the government’s decision to hire contractors for the construction of Ghana’s National Cathedral through sole-sourcing.
In an Okay FM interview monitored by GhanaWeb, the NPP (New Patriotic Party) executive said that there is no urgency about the Cathedral project for it to be sole-sourced to Sir David Adjaye's firm.
He suggested that the government was wrong to single-source the project because the laws of the country on procurement are clear that only projects that are required urgently should not be opened to a competitive bidding process.
“Another news item I think we should be discussing is the report that the National Cathedral contract was awarded through sole sourcing. I think it’s a major issue. As a country, we are building a cathedral and we have decided to do it through sole-sourcing. What was the urgency about it?… why do you make it sole sourcing?
“I support the building of a cathedral, it is good. But did we have to do that through sole-sourcing? That beats my imagination and my comprehension and so I think that as a nation these are some of the things we should be discussing,” he said in Twi.
Meanwhile, the Vice President of IMANI Africa, Bright Simons, has alleged that the architecture work for the National Cathedral project was sole-sourced to Sir David Adjaye and Associates Limited at $22 million.
The $22 million agreement, Simons said, is 10 percent of the total cost to be incurred for the National Cathedral project.
In a tweet shared on June 16, 2022, the IMANI vice president added that Sir David Adjaye and Associates Limited were paid $6 million even before they commenced work.
"To build its National Cathedral, Ghana decides to single-source just the architecture to Adjaye & assoc for ~$22m (10% of project cost!) And pay $6m upfront!" portions of the tweet read.
Watch the interview below:
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